Thread: My Story of Frustration

Alright well here is my problem that took me two years to catch. So two years ago when I was considering a swap for my NX I found an Volcanic Orange SE-R on E-bay. Hence my Screen Name. Well I looked at the ad and read SR20VE with a Garrett T-28 along with a crap load of audio equipment. It looked like a good deal. And yes it did look a little ricey but I could look past that for the performance value. So I thought shoot, this has all the work done for me for what I want. So I bought it for 4 grand because the car itself was clean from the pictures and in person. I thought it would be a fun weekend toy and I will keep the NX stock. Just note I am not a n00b with cars. I have been working on cars for the past five years and have been able to fix every project I have been able to tackle. I was just a major SR20 n00b compared to most of you guys. I thought the thing was fast and the RR felt like my friends VTEC motor so I truly thought for a long time it was a boosted VVL that I owned.


Well here is where I deserve the n00b of the year award.

IT TOOK ME TWO YEARS TO FIND OUT I PAID ALL THAT MONEY FOR A RR SR20DE AND IT WAS NEVER A VE!!!

ONLY THING VE IS THE VALVE COVER!!




Along with that within a year of owning the car I realized the inlet gasket was blown on the turbo, the compressor wheels were chewed up, and the radiator had a small leak. I fixed all that just fine within the first month because that was not a big deal. The car also has cold start up issues and now I realized why. It turns out that the RR intake Manifold has an idle air control that the B13 harness does not have a plug for so it has a manual adjustment screw put on it from the guy who sold it to me. Which is fine because once the car warms up it runs great. But point is its still a cob job the way it was done and if its not adjusted right the engine bucks like no tomorrow and the cold start ups are a royal pain.

I did not find out until my valve cover was leaking around a spark plug that I had an RR because I had to change the gasket. As you can see in the pictures its an RR manifold also. I also did some snooping on google to find any info on my car and this came up. who's turbo sr20ve is this on ebay? - SR20 Forum

Note: everyone is calling me a dummy for buying the car on there

Gosh I wish I knew of the Forums back then when I bought this. So now I have a 4 grand investment only worth 2 grand at most. All because I did not do my research. I am beyond mad at all this.

Long Story Short: Don't even buy cars from E-Bay.

It happens to all of us, we learn from it and then not make the same mistake again, and help others not do it.

I paid $5k for my Sentra SE-L in 2006, that was a premium price to pay for a Sentra even back then. Turned out to be a sludge monster, engine swap later and unlimited knowledge later I don't really regret it.

Honestly your better off with a RR and small framed turbo anyway. VE, with regular 20VE cams, really doesn't like restrictive setups. On my VE with GTiR mani and 20VE cams I'm making around 230whp on 8psi. Dropped $450 towards some VET cams, now she is making about 260whp on 7 psi. So basically unless your wanting to go big and spend a ton VE doesn't really shine.


Anyway, a few things that I should mention about your setup so that others can learn from it.
- Blue VE Valve Cover = SR16VE, not 2.0.
- Intake manifold is a Roller Rocker one, very different from VE or any other SR20
- IACV - Roller rockers use a very different IACV, it's a step motor, it's hard/probably not possible to use it with a non 32bit ECU. This is why he has a screw for idle and not a properly functioning IACV.

from the pic of the engine bay, the car was Granite at one point.

does it have skyline tail lights?

All part of a learning curve. There are Sentra's that are worth 4k, 5k, 6k. Sounds and looks like your car was not worth it. Good thing is you found this SR forum with many knowledgeable people.

BTW that looks like RWD Ebay manifold on your car. You should probably check that for cracks and leaks.

Don't get down on the car, as long as it's running good and brings a smile to your face, enjoy it. How about more pics and info?



Whoa, I would not go as far to say that. That is quite false info IMVHO. A VE is a little pickier to tune with but it is much better all around motor boost, N/A, small or big turbo. My VE witha T25 made 233 @ 7lbs, then at 13lbs it made 288whp on a 2.5 exhaust 93 pump. All in the fine tuning...

I would definitely agree that a DE whether RR or not is more noob friendly for tuning than a VE.

I wouldn't say Ebay is bad to buy off of. You just need to buy local so you can test drive. I have bought 3 cars off of Ebay all with good results, but they were local. Ebay is often a necessary evil

Yep. Don't get too upset. It sucks, but these things happen.

One thing that I thought about. I heard of people running a lowport intake mani on there. With that in mind, that should make me be able to use a factory ECU controlled IACV right? That should possibly fix the cold idle problem and also the occasional power loss. Plus the lowport mani should flow better too right? I do have a great T-25 in shape also that I could replace that slightly chewed up T28 with. The T28 has very little play but the wheel has some small nicks here and there but frankly I dont trust it 100%. Would the car need a retune if I swapped that T25 instead of leaving the slightly busted T28 in there?

Im just glad the lowport swap in my NX at least runs right. I know I did not take any short cuts on that car when I did the work by myself. That involved replacing the oil pump, pan, and VC gasket. Hell I made adapters for sensor plugs just because I didnt want to cut the harness on it.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm not as agitated anymore

I agree, there are quality vendors on there, even quality knockoffs(I know, I know don't buy knockoffs). But most parts I get from ebay I check on constantly to make sure everything works properly and once I find a good source, I stick with it. For instance I found a good quality ebay turbo and parts supplier, I have bought 3 turbo's about 6 wastegates from them, only one wastegate failed and that was my fault when I was switching springs.

Oh and BTW it did not have skyline tail's I will admit it did have the ricey hood scoop but no Skyline tails. That would have killed the looks completely for me. At least its a real subie hood scoop, I know that for sure lol